News Round-Up

• “COVID-19: Pandemic sickness pay rules for NHS staff to come to an end” – The BMJ reports that the special arrangements that allowed full pay for NHS staff should they have to self-isolate or become ill with COVID-19, however long they are off work, are being withdrawn this week, the Government has confirmed.
• “As Military Ranks are Purged, U.S. Is Unprepared for War” – The Pentagon is struggling to recruit fresh troops, while at the same time it’s preparing to remove 60,000 unvaccinated National Guardsmen and Reservists it relies on for routine mission support, writes Dr. P. Michael Phillips in Brownstone.
• “Boris Johnson: Net Zero zealot” – His embrace of eco-austerity will be his most wretched legacy, writes Andrew Orlowski in Spiked.
• “The barren, benighted world of Net Zero” – David Wright in TCW Defending Freedom runs through the options for replacing fossil fuels and outlines the impoverished dystopia that a world without fossil fuels would be.
• “‘Hundreds’ of Extinction Rebellion protesters in hazmat suits storm Welsh coal mine with red smoke bombs as they claim shaft extension will release 100 million tons of CO2” – The Mail reports that demonstrators from Extinction Rebellion have ‘occupied’ the Aberpergwm colliery in south Wales to protest a shaft extension.
• “Rhodes Must Fall chief who has previously called for decolonising the curriculum helps write Oxford University free speech guide” – Simukai Chigudu, co-founder of the Rhodes Must Fall movement, has been contributing to a ‘framework’ for colleges to adopt, the Mail reports.
• “Who’s backing who? Mordaunt takes second” – The Spectator says that with only two Tory MPs nominated by their parliamentary colleagues to go to the membership for a final election, the number of endorsements matters. Rishi Sunak has the most with 33, then Penny Mordaunt with 20. Tom Tugendhat comes third with 15 backers followed by Nadhim Zahawi and Liz Truss on 13. Jeremy Hunt and Kemi Badenoch both have 12. Priti Patel has 11 backers, Suella Braverman and Sajid Javid have 10 and Grant Shapps has seven. Rehman Chishti currently has none.
• “It’s absurd to say the Conservative Party isn’t ready for a non-white leader” – The suggestion that ethnic minority Tories have betrayed their identity is its own form of racism, says Tomiwa Owolade in the New Statesman.
• “Leading female candidates for Prime Minister clash as they brandish their ‘anti-woke’ credentials” – The Telegraph reports that an extraordinary row broke out at the weekend between the two leading female candidates for Prime Minister, Suella Braverman and Penny Mordaunt, as they both attempted to brandish their ‘anti-woke’ credentials.
• “If you think a few hot sunny days in the middle of summer is yet another crisis requiring government intervention, school closures or NHS instructions on how to survive, then you really need to lie down in a darkened room” – Julia Hartley-Brewer attempts to bring some sense to the hysterical response to England actually being warm.

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